Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-05-07
SELF OR BEARER
By WALTER BEsANT.
Author Of "AH Sorts aud Conditions Of
Men, The Captains Room" etc.
XII,

Men, The Captain Room,'' etc.
CHAPTER xI.
STILL oNE HAN LEFT.
The blacklist cloud sat on the brow of Mr..
Hurridge. Business was before him which
wanted his clever clerk, and she was gone.
Wonderful! unheard of! She confessed what
she had done, and she went away without q
word OF excuse, without any appeal to mercy;
Just as IT somebody else had done the thing.
Never was audacity more complete.
could forgive her." said Mr.. Murridge.
feel it in ma to forgive her." Perhaps the
thought of her c~leverness. and the loss Of
her departure, assisted him to this Christian
frame of hind. Eyes, l feel that l could
forgive her. l could stop the sixty pounds
out OF her salary, and we could go on just
exactly the same as before, only l should
lock up the check book, If she'd only tell me
why she did it, and say she was sorry. And
the little devil goes of with a toss Of her
head and a glare in her eyes as if somebody
else had taken the checks! It's wonderful;
it's wonderful!'
Meantims how could he replace herl
III make her come back to me, he said.
III she won't accept my terms I'll prosecute
her, even without the checks. She must
have taken them out Of Dicks drawer, too.
Women will do anything-anything! But
that was clever. What will her father sayl I
don't care. Ilprosecute the Honorable Norah
Cronan,% daughter Of Viscount Clonsilla, for
forgeryl That is"-he p~aused-'it l can
without the checks; and then she'll be glad
enough to accept my terms"
While MI: Murridge was thus breathing
fury and flames he received a call. A
vN1Nnn rorflarnon rr,ho1a
known to him, knocked at the door and
walked in.
my name is Aquila," he said. "You will
understand why l have called when I tell
you that l am engaged to Miss Norah
Cronan."
"Oh!' Mr.: Murridge replied, with a snort;
you are, are youa And has that young
lady seen you since yesterday morningG'
"Yes; l have seen her,"
HAS she made any kind of statement to
your Do you understand what has hap
psnedf'
II learn from her that some kind Of charge
has been brought against her,"
"She is accused-not by me, but by an.
other-of theft and forgery. Sixty pounds
is the total. have been robbed in my own
office of sixty pounds by five distinct for
geries. She made no bones of confessing the
thing to me. Laughed at it, so to speak.
Laughed at it! Told me to find out the
truth for myself"
"Confessing! Norah confessing1"
Certainly. And if, young gentleman,
you can explain how she came to confess
without the least shame, l should 30 glad to
hear that explanation. Come"
Let me understand. How could she con-
fesss What did she say!'
"She confessed that she cashed one Of the
checks herself, and that her brother cashed
another. Is not that confession enough for
your
Nothing would be enough for me, because
am as firmly convinced Of her innocence os
OF my own. Much more firmly, in fact, be-
cause Norah could not do this thing. Con-
slider, Mr.. Murridge"-the young mans voice
trembled-"this is a very dreadful charge to
bring against any one, and most Of all
against a girl. Yet you talk Of it as if it
was not only a possible charge. but already
proved"
Every day in this city," said Mr.. MUIR
ridge, there are robberies of this kind.
They are all committed by perfectly innocent
persons previously unsuspected. When thew
are found out the first cry is that it is Inn
possible. Now, young gentleman, 1 am very
sorry, for the girls sake-I don know an
other person in the world for whom l would
say so much. The thing is impossible, is it
nots Yet it hos happened-'
"ls that ailt Tell me exactly. Is it all
that Norah saidf
"She said that she would answer no more
questions"
SIS that auf'
'Not quite. What she said them can't
understand twas that l must find out the
truth for myself. What do you make Of
that"
Only that you have not got the truth yet.
Stay; let us send for her brother. Will
you let me put a question to him in your
presence"
"By all means. Send the office bow in A
cab"
Hugh hastily wrote a note, and dispatched
the boy in a hanson. From the city to
Cover street a tolerably swift cab takes
twenty minutes. They had, therefore, forty
minutes at least to wait.
And now" said Mr.. Murridge, your
relations with this young lady are so init
mate, and you know SO much, it would be
just as well if you knew oil"
He opened his safe, and took from it a roll
of paper:
This document" he said, twas placed in
my hands by no other than my own son,
Read it, remembering that the girl is his
old companion and friend from childhood"
Hugh read it through, slowly and deliber-
ately. Then he read it a second time.
"You accept this statement" he asked.
without question:
Surely. 1t is a perfectly plain statement
by my own sor, who can have nothing what
yer to gain by misrepresenting the facts.
You observe that he suppressed as long as
he could the most important fact"
Hugh a no reply. But he read the
paper a third time Then be looked care.
fully about the room.
Come, Mr.. Murridge,' he said, "let US ex-
anime this document with a little more care.
Dick says that Norah shut the door; that the
door, as sometimes happon, was not quite
close, but stood ajar; that from the place
where he sat he could see through this
partly open door. Come into the other Of
fee with me-
He carefully adjusted tie door so that it
should lie ajar at an angle Of about eleven
and a half degrees, which Is, so to speak,
good large jar.
Now" he said, III it was ajar, it cor.
tainly could not have been wider than this.
Here are W. tables and two chairs; l suppose
he must have been sitting at ono Of them
while he saw the door ajar."
T is my sons chair
sSit here, Them Hugh vent on. Tell
me l you can see in your own officer
Nothing whatever could Is sean of The